The Scarlet Letter and Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism was a philosophical movement during the 19th century. Its focus was on individuality; which was based on the belief that humans were essentially good and that anything natural was good. The movement developed as a part of the European Romanticism. How much did the ideas of transcendentalism affected Hawthorne?-------- is a question which has been already answered by history. However, how far is his Scarlet Letter transcendentalist in its form or aspect?-- is being debated even today. One observation can be that, considering the author's association with the movement in its early stages, the novel does reflect some elements of the philosophy. However, to call the novel completely a transcendentalist text would be a matter of question.

Hawthorne portrays a sort of tension between the Puritan society and the transcendentalist views."Forest and rosebush represent the good and evil sides of nature. And Hawthorne thought that transcendentalism was too optimistic. For instance, a brook has been portrayed as a symbol of melancholy." (Wieland) For the Puritan society the forest is the symbol of uncivilized habitation. Whereas for Hester and Pearl it is a place for freedom, liberty, shelter and peace. Hawthorne also portrays, how the Puritan society is a place of restriction and strict moral codes whereas the transcendental habitation is a place of shelter without any restrictions or institutions.

Works Cited

Wieland, Ariana. "Transcendentalism in The Scarlet Letter." 20 May 2016. web. 12 October 2019. <https://prezi.com/2rn0j76w5vvf/transcendentalism-in-the-scarlet-letter/>.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Metaphysical poetry: critical analysis of George Herbert's Love (3)

Whether it was religion or love, the metaphysical poets had their own way of writing poetry on topics concerning the human experience. Though history doesn't speak much about them, their contribution to English literature speaks a lot. Anyways, the poet I'm going to talk about is George Herbert, one of the major metaphysical poets, with special emphasis on the critical analysis of his Love 3 . Love 3 is the last poem of Herbert's poetry collection "The Temple". Written in the form of a dialogue, the poem is the third in the series of love poems of the collection. Spending the later years of his life in religious activities, George Herbert, through this collection, wanted to draw his readers' attention to the experience of true eternal love i,e God's love. Which is why, in the earlier two poems, he explains how, the love for God is higher than the human experience of love, which mostly is an "usurping lust", in his opinion. Love 3, being the la...
Read more

Oulipo-Creativity through Constraints

Image
Imagine a blank page. Imagine that you are told to write, paint, draw, anything you wish to. At first, this exercise would make one feel happy with the fact that they are free to express whatever and however they wish to. But the next moment the same freedom would lead to confusion. What should I write about? What should I paint/draw? Without the constraint of a context, creating or inventing something would seem nearly impossible for many of us. A constraint isn't always an imposition or bondage. It can also be seen as a foundation for creative impulse. To better understand this idea, watch the following video on the power of creative constraints: The Oulipo group created by Raymond Queneau and  François Le Lionnais in Paris in 1960 championed this idea of creating literature within the constraints of linguistic, mathematical and logical boundaries. Oulipo is a French acronym for "Ouvroir de littérature potentielle" and can be translated in English as "The Workshop...
Read more

Survey: DELL Software

This post is in response to the questions (7-10 and 13) asked here 7) The five advantages of language learning through software include: Development of basic language skills Ease of assessment for the teacher The software is easy to operate, provided the tools are in good condition Teachers can also easily monitor learners' performance Convenient for group work 8) Following are the disadvantages of the language learning software: Inconvenience of time and place Affordability and availability of digital tools Lack of awareness regarding the usage of the software and the usage of the digital tools 9) Following are the few things related to language skills which can be learnt from the software: Communication skills A good vocabulary Standard accent and pronunciation patterns 10) Following are the five new words, in terms of vocabulary and pronunciation, learnt during the survey: Wonk Psychometric Veneer Xerophthalmia Debonair 13) Comparatively, the N...
Read more